Series Such As Stranger Things and The Survival Drama Are Growing Bloated. I Strongly Prefer the One-and-Done Program
It's an all-too-familiar feeling. The second series of your favorite TV show drops on your platform, and your mind is full of hopeful expectation. Season one ended with such precision: narrative threads were dangled enticingly, and a main character had â cliffhanger! â been offed (or had they?). During the hiatus, you scoured online forums with fellow enthusiasts to decode subtle references pointing toward upcoming twists.
And then season twoâs premiere is a damp squib. The writing appears robotic and uninspired. By the next installment, a key performer makes a choice that viewers recognize as jarringly uncharacteristic. As the story progresses, the writers appear to have memory loss regarding plot points heavily emphasized earlier. As the underwhelming ending arrives, you long for an earlier termination.
The Downside of Overextension
Regretting a show's continuation is hindsight; viewers usually oppose premature cancellations. Take Kaos, a clever mythological satire featuring Jeff Goldblum, which was binned by Netflix due to low viewing figures. Yet audiences can console themselves that the show's quality wasn't tarnished by a weak follow-up.
Looking back at the horror-mystery show Yellowjackets, I now wish it had been a limited series. Season one had a creatively abundant premise, and every episode hit the right marks. A 1996 plane crash strands a female soccer team in wilderness. Top-notch cast members (including Juliette Lewis, Lauren Ambrose and Sophie Thatcher) played the characters across timelines. Numerous awards recognition occurred, and the showrunners proudly announced there would be five seasons to tell the story in necessary detail. However, a season four finale was just confirmed. This news brought me relief.
The Stranger Things cast returns for season five.
Plot twists have diluted the essence. Instead of focusing on the survivors' reintegration, and their coping with awful experiences, the story grew padded and excessive. A fatiguing tendency emerged of bringing in and focusing on new characters (such as Shaunaâs two-dimensional daughter Callie) who did nothing for the broader story. It's disappointing, and witnessing a great series decline into annoyance is disheartening.
A Common Phenomenon
But itâs not only Yellowjackets. Shows such as Emily in Paris, House of the Dragon, Squid Game and Stranger Things no longer surprise audiences, and settled into familiar patterns. Sometimes shows need to quit when they are ahead.
The thing is, there are joys to be had in a limited, âone-and-doneâ series. From Sharp Objects to I May Destroy You to Adolescence, producers recognize appropriate conclusion points. However, the magic fades with series like Big Little Lies, initially a one-season story, return repeatedly with declining quality. Hopefully, Adolescenceâs producers have thought twice about that rumoured season two.
The Supreme Instance
I preferred Yellowjackets as a limited run, living rent-free in our imaginations, mysteries intact. My favorite TV show of all time has played out like that. The classic teen series, the quintessential youth program, lasted for only one season but was cinematic in its scope: the personalities were complex and inconsistent, the filming captured a fall aesthetic, and the conversations avoided cliched adolescent writing. The ending left questions unanswered, but this reflects truth appropriately of youth queries staying forever open. Following 18 excellent installments (plus one weak one), I felt devastated and created my own continuation to resolve lingering mysteries. It might only live on an old hard drive, but it speaks to how deeply TV shows can chime with us.
The Sacred Bond
If writers recall the sacred audience-series connection, more shows can end gracefully.
- Priya Elan focuses on cultural topics.
